Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 315 - 314: Don’t Talk Nonsense

The sound of Si Shuo’s voice was met with a fit of violent coughing from inside the stone house, startling her so much that she stopped in her tracks, refusing to take another step.

She grabbed Wei Ce’s arm in fear. "Brother Ce, I’m not very strong myself. From the sound of it, the Yichu Saintess is about to cough up a lung. Let’s just stay out here and talk to her from the doorway."

Yichu’s hoarse, weak voice drifted from inside the house. "Qiang, open the wooden window for Mother. I want to have a word with your sister-in-law."

"Mother, you’re still sick! It’s cold outside. If we open the window, rain will get in and make the room even damper," an angry young male voice replied. "And what ’sister-in-law’? If she really were family, would she be so repulsed by you being sick that she won’t even cross the threshold?"

Si Shuo’s face went a little pale, but she smiled. "Now, now, young man, you can’t put it like that. If it were any other Beastman’s female who was sick, I’d at least cover my nose and mouth and pop in for a visit."

"But... but your mother is a rat beast. What if it’s something contagious? What then?"

’Who doesn’t know how to sling mud and make false accusations? You have to fight magic with magic, of course!’

At her words, the crowd of onlooking Beastmen couldn’t help but take several steps back in unison. Wild rats couldn’t be eaten carelessly; some species carried potent toxins. Eating one could cause sickness in mild cases and death in severe ones.

What’s more, the history of the Beast World Continent was marked by several devastating, large-scale rat plagues. The stories were still passed down by word of mouth, and even now, just mentioning them made people turn pale. A plague like that had the power to wipe out an entire city.

Inside, Yichu had been faking her illness to accuse Wei Ce of being unfilial, hoping to force him to give in under public pressure and let her move into the big house.

But instead, Si Shuo had gone and suggested she had the plague!

"Don’t be ridiculous! I... I just caught a cold! It’s not a plague at all. It’s clear you didn’t come here to visit me out of any genuine concern. You just came to watch the spectacle, didn’t you?" Yichu’s face flushed with anger as she glared at Si Shuo outside the window.

Just then, Wei Ce conjured a stone bench in the clearing, placing a cushion sewn from Beast Skins and stuffed with cotton on top of it.

Si Shuo sat down, a shield of Spiritual Energy protecting her from the rain, and started nibbling on a fragrant, tender piece of corn. "I absolutely did come to watch the spectacle," she said. "I wanted to see if the heavens are paying attention on a gloomy day like this—if maybe they’ll strike a few malicious people with lightning."

The cool, damp wind blew in through the window, carrying the sweet fragrance of the corn. Yichu couldn’t help but swallow. The corn had been harvested two or three months ago, picked only after fully ripening and then set out to dry. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

She hadn’t tasted corn this sweet since it was on the stalk, just about to ripen.

"If anyone’s getting struck, it’ll be you first," Yichu said coldly. "He doesn’t even care if his own mother lives or dies, so what can you possibly expect from him? Don’t be so smug. Just wait until you get sick. He’ll probably be thrilled he gets to find a new, younger female."

Si Shuo paid no mind to her attempts to sow discord. Smiling, she squeezed Wei Ce’s hand. "Ah, Wei Ce, some people are just so pitiful. I bet her own Beast Husbands treated her that way, so now she’s projecting her experience onto you."

"Shouldn’t she be asking herself why? Why do her Beast Husbands ignore her, while all the males in our family dote on me completely?"

Yichu wanted to start coughing again to play up her grave illness, but now she was afraid everyone would think she had the plague. She gritted her teeth in frustration. "That’s not true! My Beast Husbands treat me very well!"

Si Shuo finished her corn and took out a finger-sized piece of meat to nibble on. "Mmm, this is delicious. It was my favorite thing to eat when I was pregnant with my little Big Snake Beast cub."

"Yichu Saintess, do you know what this is?" she asked, dangling the little leg in her hand.

Yichu’s mind couldn’t keep up with the sudden change of subject. Her eyes fixed on the leg. Plucked and roasted, who could possibly tell what animal it came from?

But the Beastmen had a keen sense of smell. Before she even had to guess, one of them provided the answer: "That’s rat meat, isn’t it? It does smell amazing when it’s roasted!"

"That’s right, haha! Speaking of which, my Zhi Le is a leopard, and I’m a female Cat Beast. We’re both felines, so we love to eat rats." It was only then that Si Shuo belatedly realized that as a cat, she truly couldn’t resist rat meat. It was an instinctual craving that completely overwhelmed her psychological aversion. "Ji Liang is a Big Snake Beast, Yin Jiang is a Hunting Falcon, and Xiao Cheng is a fox. It seems they all eat rats, and quite enjoy it, too. No wonder I feel such warmth and delight whenever I see Yichu. My mind just starts conjuring up a hundred and eight different recipes."

Yichu was trembling with rage. This was insulting someone without a single curse word; every sentence was about wanting to eat her!

’A true female Cat Beast, born to be my nemesis.’

"Brother Ce, what are you standing around for? The Yichu Saintess is gravely ill. We have to take her home and take good care of her. I think just watching her while we eat will help us finish an extra bowl."

"Her other Beast Husbands and cubs can’t come, though. They have nothing to do with us, we can’t afford to support them, and we’re not going to be taken for fools."

"Anyway, when the Yichu Saintess finally croaks, you can just dig a hole and bury her yourself... Oh, Yin Jiang, do Hunting Falcons eat carrion?"

Yin Jiang flicked her on the forehead in exasperation. "No. Vulture Beastmen are the ones who eat carrion."

"However, it’s hard to find food in this weather. If we bury the Yichu Saintess, plenty of other Beastmen will have their eyes on her. They’d dig ten feet down if they had to, just to dig her up and have a meal."

Yichu felt like crying. This was too cruel! She was still alive and well, and they were already planning what to do with her body.

The mere thought of moving into Wei Ce’s home, surrounded by her natural predators, made Yichu realize she would have to live in constant fear every single day.

The Beastmen in the Beast City had been tamed by civilization and its many rules, making them relatively docile and kind. But the savage brutality in a Beastman’s true nature could never be completely erased.

Some of the more vicious Beastmen enjoyed preying on species they liked to eat, capturing their cubs or females for a meal! It was a gamble she dared not take.

"Ahem. You’ve seen me, you’ve said your piece. You can go now," Yichu said, closing her eyes as if she were about to sleep.

Si Shuo shook her head, her voice laced with mock concern. "Oh, that won’t do at all. The Yichu Saintess is so terribly ill. If we don’t take you with us, what will everyone say?"

Yichu snapped, "Wei Ce is my son. Isn’t it only natural for him to treat me well? Are you only doing this to put on a show for others?"

"But the Yichu Saintess clearly isn’t sick, and you were putting on a show for others, so why can’t we?" Si Shuo asked with feigned curiosity. "I have a Wood Element Ability, so I have some healing skills. From this close, I can tell whether you’re sick or not."

Yichu gritted her teeth. "Whether I’m sick or not, I didn’t ask you to come see me!"

"But everyone knows about it. You set the stage so perfectly, it would have been a shame for us not to show up for such a grand performance," Si Shuo said, refusing to leave the window. She finished the rat meat and started on some peanuts. "Besides, I don’t have much to do back home, so I might as well watch you pretend to be sick and pick up some pointers. I mean, look at you. A moment ago you were coughing your lungs out, but now you’re talking without even getting flushed or out of breath. You’re practically bursting with energy. Do you look sick at all?"

Yichu pressed her lips together tightly. ’How could she dare to cough now?’